Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804–1864)

Nathaniel Hawthorne is documented in Fuller’s letters, books, published essays, and manuscripts (1834–1846). 10 distinct works are named, most often in American Literature, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “excerpted”.

Engagement: ExcerptedAnalyzedQuotedReadMentioned
Present in: Letters · Books · Essays · Manuscripts
Documented: 1834–1846

Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this author is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →

Confirmed reading

Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.

Dated
1834The Gentle BoyAttested
“I took a two or three year old "Token," and chanced on a story, called the "Gentle Boy," which I remembered to have heard was written by somebody in Salem.”
Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · [ca. 1834?]
MERGED 2026-10-11: absorbed duplicate witness(es) re516 (Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (sections), Mem-2-03 l.6959-6966; tier A; same passage) — counted once here. First-person narrative describing chancing on and reading the specific story 'The Gentle Boy.'

In Fuller’s words

“I took a two or three year old "Token," and chanced on a story, called the "Gentle Boy," which I remembered to have heard was written by somebody in Salem. It is marked by so much grace and delicacy of feeling, that I am very desirous to know the author, whom I take to be a lady.”

"The Gentle Boy" · Letter to Unknown · 1834

When Fuller engaged with Nathaniel Hawthorne

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed1record

IV. Transcendentalist1record

V. New York

VI. Europe10records

✦. Memoirs (1852)1record

1810

1820

1832

1836

1844

1846

1850

This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.

Hawthorne in Fuller’s reading world

Documentary evidence

Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.

1834—

Letter to Unknown

p167

analyzed · read

“I took a two or three year old "Token," and chanced on a story, called the "Gentle Boy," which I remembered to have heard was written by somebody in Salem.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Vol. I: 1817-1838. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Fuller names 'Gentle Boy' from a 'Token'—the Boston literary annual of 1832—and has just read it, praising its 'grace and delicacy of feeling.' Hudspeth identified the author as the young Nathaniel Hawthorne, though Fuller believed it was written by a woman and did not know his identity.

1842—

Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson

p57

analyzed · read

“I should like to write some pages on the amusements here this past winter, and a notice at some length of Hawthorne's Twice told tales.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.

Hudspeth identified Fuller's review appeared in the Dial in 1842.

1846—

Papers on Literature and Art

p145

excerpted · analyzed · quoted · read

“The introduction to the "Mosses," in which the old manse, its situation, its antique atmosphere, and its influence on the mind are described”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.

1846—

American Literature.

“American Literature.”

mentioned

“We have not spoken of Hawthorne, the best writer of the day, in a similar range with Irving, only touching many more points, and discerning far more deeply.”

Fuller, Margaret. "American Literature." New-York Daily Tribune, 23 September 1846. · 23 September 1846

1846—

American Literature

“American Literature”

analyzed · read8 selected passages

“We have not spoken of Hawthorne, the best writer of the day, .n a similar range with Irving, only touching many more points and discerning far more deeply.”

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p319; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

“The Birth Mark" and "Rapaccini's Daughter," embody truths of profound importance in shapes of aerial elegance.”

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p322; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

“The Celestial Railroad," for its wit, wisdom, and the graceful adroitness with which the natural and material objects are interwoven with the allegories, has already won its meed of admiration.”

“Fire-worship" is a most charming essay for its domestic sweetness and thoughtful life.”

“Goodman Brown" is one of those disclosures we have spoken of, of the secrets of the breast.”

“Mrs. Bull-Frog is an excellent humourous picture of what is called to be " content at last with substantial realities ! !”

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p323; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

“The " Artist of the Beautiful" presents in a form that is, indeed, beautiful, the opposite view as to what are the substantial realities of life.”

“Had Hawthorne written " Roger Malvin's Burial" alone, we should be pervaded with the sense of the poetry and religion of his soul.”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.

Undated

Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.

n.d.—

Notes, 1st Issue of the Dial

mentionedSearch Digital Fuller (page unverified)

“Notices of Longfellow } do / Hawthorne &c,”

Fuller, Margaret. "Notes, 1st Issue of the Dial." Houghton Library, Harvard University; MS Am 1086.

n.d.—

Outline for a Collected Volume

mentionedManuscript page

“Notices of Longfellow } do / Hawthorne & c,”

Fuller, Margaret. "Outline for a Collected Volume." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

n.d.—

American Literature

“American Literature”

analyzed · read

“MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE: By Nathaniel Hawthorne.— In Two Parts. New-York: Wiley and Putnam. 1846.”

Fuller, Margaret. Art, Literature, and the Drama. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. New York: The Tribune Association, 1869. · p319

Preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.

1832—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p220

analyzed · read

“a story, called the 'Gentle Boy,' which I remembered to have heard was written by somebody in Salem”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.